How Accounts Work
Pileas’ printed currency, the Pilean Credit-Mark, has been used throughout Skogland and the wider North for a century. The actual bills are relatively rare, however, especially in places like Orktown. Business is still counted in credit-marks, but the bills are rarely passed hand to hand. Instead, everyone keeps track of who they owe what. Essentially, everyone has a tab with everyone else.
Those debts usually carry for a long time, slowly whittled away over time or reversed back and forth with subsequent transactions. Only when a debt grows large is it settled with actual credit-marks, sometimes in full and sometimes just enough to make the debt small enough to carry again.
You can call in any debt owed to you at any time. Your debtor will pay what they can, which may or may not be the entire debt. Calling in a debt will slightly reduce that debtor’s trust in you. The longer you allow someone to carry a debt, the more their trust in you will grow.
The debt you can carry with each individual is measured by their trust in you. The more they trust you, the more debt they’ll let you carry. The less they trust you, the sooner they’ll ask you to settle a debt.
If you cannot settle a debt when asked (in whole or in part), you will quickly erode the trust of everyone in the community. This may prompt others to call in your debts with them, leading to a cascade that destroys your ability to do any business at all.
If half the characters in the game have zero trust in you, your company charter will be revoked and the game will end.
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I’m looking to do something a little more interesting with transactions in Citizen Swords. The above is the help file explaining how things work. Dear patrons, I have two questions for you. First, does the above make sense? Second, does this sound more interesting than fiddly?
Thanks for your feedback!
—Josh